This invention relates to a clutch and lock mechanism, and more particularly to such a mechanism adapted for use with a double shuttle table.
Shuttle tables are frequently used in automated storage and retrieval facilities such as warehouses, where they may be carried by cranes or similar devices. Double, or double-wide, shuttle tables known in the art are frequently utilized when it is necessary to store and retrieve loads which exceed the capacity of a single shuttle table. The use of such double-wide shuttle tables or, alternatively, a pair of single shuttle tables permanently coupled, is inefficient when the load to be transported is of insufficient size or weight to justify the use of a double table. Currently known mechanisms which attempt to overcome such inefficiencies by permitting the coupling and uncoupling of two individual tables so that only a single table is utilized when such is all that is required, suffer from the deficiency that the second, unused, table frequently moves when it is uncoupled from the first, load-carrying, table. This, in turn, can cause numerous problems. For example, the drive mechanisms for the two tables may not remain in synchronization when the unused table moves due to, for example, vibrations induced by the motion of the table being utilized. Another drawback occurs when such tables are carried by, for example, the aforementioned cranes which move in the narrow aisles between storage racks. In such cases the second, unused table, may "drift" into such a location that when the crane is moved, the unused table comes into contact with the rack or the materials which are stored in the racks, and which may extend slightly into the aisle, thereby causing substantial physical damage.